I think all the elements are there to make it a smart signing by the Jays.. It's hard to hear Jays management continually say that it isn't at this time.. If they think we can compete for the 2nd wildcard, how can they say that Fielder wouldn't push us over the top and make us legit contenders.. It's brutal to hear, when is the next time there will be another Fielder available? I think we'd be instant favorites if we made a reasonable offer, what other possible team that has the money to make an offer is even remotely as good a fit as the Jays are? I think we definitely could get back to being top 10 in attendance as soon as people realize the team is serious about making the playoffs.. Not even counting how many Canadian viewers would watch, that's a big market when you're the soul owner of the rights to broadcast every game.

There are too many positives to this deal than I can count.. 5 to 6 years when you're only DH'ing really isn't going to do that much damage on his knees.. How many games has he missed for the last 3-4 yrs? He's consistent.. Like Anthopoulos said when they signed Bautista, if you can't gamble on him, who can you gamble on? /rant

There are too many positives to this deal than I can count.. 5 to 6 years when you're only DH'ing really isn't going to do that much damage on his knees.. How many games has he missed for the last 3-4 yrs? He's consistent.. Like Anthopoulos said when they signed Bautista, if you can't gamble on him, who can you gamble on? /rant

Prince Fielder will not be a Jay. AA said on PTS with McCown that in order to make a big signing he'd have to guarantee to ownership that they would win. Since you can never make that guarantee, there won't be any big signings.

Plus, this team isn't as close as people think. Even if Rasmus, Lawrie, D'Arnaud, Snider all figure it out this year, you still have a big hole at 1B and a rotation full of question marks. There's a long way to go. Fielder would no doubt help but he doesn't by any stretch make them a playoff team.

Prince Fielder will not be a Jay. AA said on PTS with McCown that in order to make a big signing he'd have to guarantee to ownership that they would win. Since you can never make that guarantee, there won't be any big signings.

Plus, this team isn't as close as people think. Even if Rasmus, Lawrie, D'Arnaud, Snider all figure it out this year, you still have a big hole at 1B and a rotation full of question marks. There's a long way to go. Fielder would no doubt help but he doesn't by any stretch make them a playoff team.

D'Arnaud won't be playing with the Jays until late in the year at best. J.P is only getting better and is already among the top in catcher production so that position isn't a problem. Lawrie will be fine, I'm not worried about him. Snider is a question mark, as is Rasmus.. Although I think they'll be alright, just keep them anywhere in the 7th-9th spots until they produce. Huge hole at 1B? Adam Lind hit .300 up til the all star break, he had that injury that kept him out a month and he wasn't the same player in the end of the season.. But he still put up good HR and RBI numbers and could have easily had 100 RBI if he didn't miss a month.

Pretty sure we were like top 5 in runs scored last year, so that would only increase with Prince Fielder because you'd have no way around the top of our line up.. You'd have to pitch to them. Like I said, I think that would make up for any inconsistencies we have in our starting rotation. Romero is solid, Brandon Morrow has only been a full time starting pitcher for 2 years, and he had 200 strike outs last year.. He can dominate, and I think he'll definitely keep improving. Henderson Alvarez seems pretty solid and I don't think there's reason to question his ability, and I'm hearing really good things about Brett Cecil, I hear he's working his ass off and he definitely has something to prove this year (plus he lost close to 30 lbs this offseason), and Kyle Drabek is only a year removed from being a top prospect.. He has all the tools, and if he doesn't start right away, McGowan is my absolute favorite.. I love his stuff, and I think he could be huge for us if he is our starter.. I ultimately think he'll be the biggest surprise this year.

I think you're way off in saying Fielder doesn't make us a playoff team.. We competed with just about everyone last year, and with a better bullpen and a lot of added protection in our lineup, I don't think it's a stretch at all.

And btw, Beeston said like 2 days ago that they could sign him for the right price.. So.. Conflicting stories. I believe the Jays are still in it, and I'd like my hopes to continue right up until he signs with another team. I think the Jays are still on his short list and even if it is false hope, that's what my whole life has been as a Toronto fan. I would like it to stay that way until it can be replaced with real hope, thank you.

When your agent is Scott Boras, there's no chance it will be the "right price" for the Jays.. So don't count on it. Anthopoulos already said there weren't going to be any more big moves as well, so I'd say the Jays have about a 1% chance of signing him.

anthopolous jsut told you that because he was forced by beeston to go on mccown's show. the guy has told you nothing accurately and never reveals anything. even when it's done. you actually beleive he's telling the truth?

anhtopolous is a wordy guy, he'll breakdown the question asked and answer without giving up any valid info and then change the topic.

If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?

Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.

Prince Fielder will not be a Jay. AA said on PTS with McCown that in order to make a big signing he'd have to guarantee to ownership that they would win. Since you can never make that guarantee, there won't be any big signings.

Plus, this team isn't as close as people think. Even if Rasmus, Lawrie, D'Arnaud, Snider all figure it out this year, you still have a big hole at 1B and a rotation full of question marks. There's a long way to go. Fielder would no doubt help but he doesn't by any stretch make them a playoff team.

anthopolous doesn't tell anyone the truth besides beeston. beeston doesn't even trust anyone including himself to keep his mouth shut which is why he sends aa to media events he's supposed to attend.

the only way you are going to ever know if what anthopolous is saying is true. is if you break it down word for word.

If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?

Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.

Jays have a serious bullpen now.. Cordero, Santos, Oliver, Frasor, Janssen, Villaneuva, Perez, and Litsch.. Will definitely help if our starters stumble. We also have like Magnuson, Farquhar, and even Joel Carreno who was great for us in his brief stint. It'll be interesting who gets taken off the 40 man, I think Alan Farina is recovering from Tommy John and will probably be placed on the DL.

Even if Lawrie and Rasmus give you another 6 WAR, I'm still struggling to see how this team competes (i.e. 95 wins) in the AL East with this rotation. Plus, the Yanks, Sox and Rays all got better this offseason. So did the Angels and Rangers.

When did the Jays last compete with the Yanks and Sox? 1994? The Jays haven't played meaningful baseball in August for 18 years. They are not "competing" in any sense with the AL's top teams.

Head to head they have pretty close to .500 records against all AL teams since 05' (Picked a random year).. They've always competed against them.. Give Cecil a break, he was a reliever in college.. He's not used to throwing so many innings, but like I said, he's worked harder than anyone in the offseason. Romero is one of the best pitchers in AL east, and Morrow definitely has the ability to be a shut down guy.. He's only pitched as a starter for two years and he almost had a no hitter, when he's on, he's one of the best pitchers in the east and there's no point questioning that.. There's no point questioning Alvarez until he gives you reason to, there are a lot of rookies in the AL, can say they're all question marks too.. It's just a pointless debate there, and Drabek never had trouble throwing strikes in the minors, he's just been jerked around a lot having to go back and forth and he's still what, 24?

Anyways, this is a pointless debate that can go on forever.. If we went by how well teams should do then Boston would have made the playoffs. Yankees are all getting old and their pitching is a question mark too.. They have rookies as well, and Burnett blows. Boston didn't improve much, plus they lost Scutaro for like nothing.. Dumb move. Also lost Francona, another dumb move. Boston isn't a stable team.. It looks good on paper, but doesn't mean they play as a team and can win as a team. Every team has question marks, but I'd rather look at what could go right instead of what could go wrong, they have a lot of talent, so it's not a stretch to think they can do well.

Head to head they have pretty close to .500 records against all AL teams since 05' (Picked a random year).. They've always competed against them.. Give Cecil a break, he was a reliever in college.. He's not used to throwing so many innings, but like I said, he's worked harder than anyone in the offseason. Romero is one of the best pitchers in AL east, and Morrow definitely has the ability to be a shut down guy.. He's only pitched as a starter for two years and he almost had a no hitter, when he's on, he's one of the best pitchers in the east and there's no point questioning that.. There's no point questioning Alvarez until he gives you reason to, there are a lot of rookies in the AL, can say they're all question marks too.. It's just a pointless debate there, and Drabek never had trouble throwing strikes in the minors, he's just been jerked around a lot having to go back and forth and he's still what, 24?

Anyways, this is a pointless debate that can go on forever.. If we went by how well teams should do then Boston would have made the playoffs. Yankees are all getting old and their pitching is a question mark too.. They have rookies as well, and Burnett blows. Boston didn't improve much, plus they lost Scutaro for like nothing.. Dumb move. Also lost Francona, another dumb move. Boston isn't a stable team.. It looks good on paper, but doesn't mean they play as a team and can win as a team. Every team has question marks, but I'd rather look at what could go right instead of what could go wrong, they have a lot of talent, so it's not a stretch to think they can do well.

The team argument doesn't really work too well for baseball. Baseball more or less is a individual sport with team elements.

es, baseball is a definite individual sport. I mean sure there are guys who hit 5o homers and their team sucks, and there's pitchers who have career years and their teams still suck and...whoops,looks like there may be more team involvement than planned eh prime. boy, i thought for sure I had baseball all figured out. #extreme sarcasm #prime is going to get all angry at me and call me a douche

If Your Uncle Jack Helped You Off An Elephant, Would You Help Your Uncle Jack Off An Elephant?

Sometimes, I like to buy a book on CD and listen to it, while reading music.

One wild pitch..? The only thing the count tells me is that he got 2 outs and 2 strikes before he threw one bad pitch, who hasn't thrown a pitch like that.. He was trying to make Bloomquist chase and he threw it a little too wide, nbd. Idk why I'm even responding to this post.. Waste of time

That pitch was 77.3 inches from the center of the plate. Sergio Santos is 6"2 or 74 inches tall. That means he missed the strike zone by more than one him. Was he trying to get Willie to chase? Possibly. We can't tell for sure though.

Of course this is just one pitch but you can't help but wonder what really happened out there.

Do you honestly believe that was really 77.3 inches from the center of the plate? Can you look at that clip and honestly say that? Anyways, you see balls like that all the time if you actually watch games.. How about you find out where he was actually trying to throw the ball rather than center of the plate, because as you can see the pitch was supposed to be down and away judging by the catcher's glove. So he missed his spot by what, 20 inches, if that? that's like half an arm length, omg.. We should trade this guy, he is baaaaaad news.

Do you honestly believe that was really 77.3 inches from the center of the plate? Can you look at that clip and honestly say that?

I don't think you're a very good judge of distance. 20 inches is already understating the distance between the catcher's mitt and the ground.

Do you see where it bounced? For it to come back up that high after the bounce means that it must have bounced long before it reached the plate.

No offense but if you were a sniper I wouldn't feel comfortable with you covering for me.

Anyways, you see balls like that all the time if you actually watch games..

Get off your high horse. If you saw balls like that all the time then why the hell haven't you figured out how far they are from the plate? I want you to compare that pitch with this one and guess which one was actually further away.

HINT: YOU'RE WRONG

How about you find out where he was actually trying to throw the ball rather than center of the plate, because as you can see the pitch was supposed to be down and away judging by the catcher's glove. So he missed his spot by what, 20 inches, if that? that's like half an arm length, omg.. We should trade this guy, he is baaaaaad news.

Protip: stop with the sarcasm--you're horrible at it.

I never said anything about trading Santos nor did I say he was a bad player. "To those of you who are still high on Santos:" is a warning. I'm not saying that he can't be an effective closer, but I'm just not convinced he's tier one material, unlike you rabid Jays fans who believe Santos is the next coming of Christ.

If you actually took the time to read my post then maybe you'd understand. Reading comprehension is key.

You're honestly just missing the whole point.. You can't judge it from the center of the plate because that's not where he was trying to throw the pitch. It was meant to be down and away. You're really going to try and say his glove is above 20 inches from the ground? C'mon, this is a joke, right?

I've never said anything about Santos so you can't really lump me into any category, I'll wait til I see him pitch for the Jays to decide whether or not I like the guy or not. Also, how would knowing the distance a ball is thrown from the center of the plate help me at all in life? Maybe if I had a reason to know it other than to argue about it online I might look into it, but I'm good for now, thanks.

Can you really say your point was clear through your two line post? My initial reaction was trolling, now I see that you just would like people to stop thinking this guy is the best, I get it, I do. My point though is, why bother? Let people think what they want, I'm not saying don't post things to show your point of view on the guy but be a little more open minded about it.

The bottom line is, I'd rather think about the positives of the Jays and be optimistic about the future than be angry and bitter that the Jays don't meet my current expectations.